PASSAGE: Matthew 4:12-25
SERIES SUMMARY
As Jesus steps onto the scene of history, Matthew paints a picture of him that invites our participation in what Jesus is doing. The portrait is that Jesus is the True King who is bringing the kingdom of heaven to earth. This good news is not reserved for especially religious people in a distant future; it’s good news, right now, for ordinary people who come to Jesus in faith.
And while Jesus inaugurated the kingdom among us through teaching and serving in dozens of ways, he ultimately brought heaven to earth by embracing the cross as his throne and wearing thorns as his crown. In doing this, he broke the powers of the kingdom(s) of this world and opened up God’s new world through his resurrection. Now, because of these things, discipleship to Jesus is about praying and living “Your kingdom come, Your will be done.” It is about whole-life transformation and embodying kingdom realities. It is about becoming people who naturally live out what Jesus taught. Today, because of Matthew’s witness and Jesus’ ministry, the kingdom is coming in our own lives, “on earth as it is in heaven.”
PASSAGE GUIDE
The passage frames life in a dark cave: the danger isn’t only that the world is dim, but that we adjust to the dimness until it feels normal. Over time, moral, spiritual, and relational compromise becomes familiar, so familiar that we stop noticing what once would have alarmed us. We stop longing for light. Scripture’s call, then, isn’t merely to cope inside the darkness, but to wake up and step back into the light because darkness isn’t meant to be home, and light doesn’t adapt to darkness; darkness yields to light.
Matthew’s story sets Jesus’ ministry launch inside that “cave.” After John’s arrest, Jesus withdraws to Galilee, an occupied, marginal, religiously mixed region that had learned to live under oppression and compromise. Matthew connects this to Isaiah’s prophecy: people “dwelling in darkness” see “a great light.” The point is that Jesus intentionally begins where the shadows feel thick, not in the obvious centers of power, showing that the King steps into the places where darkness has become ordinary, both in the world and in our lived experience.
Jesus’ opening proclamation is simple and disruptive: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Repentance is described not as shame-driven effort, but as a decisive turn toward God’s rule, rethink what’s real, rearrange what you trust, and reorient how you live. God’s kingdom is where God’s will is done, and Jesus announces that this “government” has drawn near meaning God’s wisdom, love, and authority can invade the places where our own will normally runs things. When we treat Jesus’ words as beautiful but unrealistic while assuming the culture’s scripts are practical, that’s evidence we’ve adapted to the cave.
Matthew then shows repentance with legs: ordinary fishermen are called, and they immediately leave nets, boats, and even primary allegiances to follow Jesus as apprentices reordering life around him, his mission, and his authority. Jesus teaches, proclaims the good news of the kingdom, and heals signs of the Creator-King reclaiming what’s broken and previewing the world made right. The kingdom is already present but not yet complete, so the call is to live now as citizens under Heaven’s rule: bring your “Galilee” into the light, loosen your “nets and boats,” obey Jesus concretely, pray and practice allegiance, and join his mission of healing, truth, and restoration.
- What happens when the kingdom of heaven draws near in King Jesus?
- To repent means three things—rethink, rearrange, and reorient.
- It’s a radical relational, vocational reorientation: a new center of authority, a new source of security, and a new purpose.
*We are a church located in Greenville, South Carolina. Our vision is to see God transform us into a community of grace passionately pursuing life and mission with Jesus.
SUGGESTIONS FOR COMMUNITY GROUP QUESTIONS
Remember, these are “suggested” questions. You do not have to go through every single one of them. You do not need to listen to both sermons at both campuses to participate in the discussion.
LIFE WITH JESUS
Charlie suggested these as possible ways for us to come under God’s Kingdom rule. Which of these did you choose to act on, if your’s isn’t listed what did you choose?
- Obeying a hard teaching of Jesus in a specific situation
- Telling the truth
- Forgiving instead of retaliating
- Honoring your body and your marriage covenant
- Protecting someone vulnerable
- Asking for healing prayer, not as a magic trick, as an act of allegiance to the King
- Taking up one simple practice
- Meditating on Scripture
- Times of solitude and silence
- Practicing gratitude
- Practicing honest confession
- Intentional generosity
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- What was your main takeaway from the message or the passage?
- Where is your Galilee of the Gentiles, the place in your life where darkness feels normal, permanent, inevitable?
- What are your nets, boat, and father; the securities, plans, and allegiances Jesus may be calling you to hold more loosely so you can follow him more fully, even when that sets you against the current of the culture?
- Why do you think Jesus intentionally launched his ministry in a “Galilee” kind of place instead of a center of power? What does that reveal about him?
- “Your kingdom is where your will is done.” What are a few everyday places your will most obviously runs things (schedule, money, phone, reactions, conflict, anxiety)?
- The kingdom is “already, not yet.” How does that tension shape the way you pray, handle unanswered prayers, and keep hope without denial or cynicism?
- When you hear “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” what do you instinctively think it means—and how does this passage correct that?
- What’s one cultural script you’ve absorbed (about success, identity, sex, money, power, forgiveness) that needs to be rethought under Jesus’ kingdom?
- Who is one person you could “fish for” in the next 7 days—not as a project, but as a loving step: invite, listen, pray, serve, or share your story?
- What’s one practice that would help you stop adapting to darkness and start noticing light again (Scripture meditation, silence, confession, gratitude, generosity)? When exactly will you do it?
RESOURCES